Six NHL coaches who spent two stints behind the bench for the same team

Shortly after the final horn sounded on the Buffalo Sabres’ last game of 2023-24, the franchise fired head coach Don Granato and rehired former coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff played for the Sabres from 1979-89 and was the team’s head coach from 1997-2013. He enjoyed a strong track record during his initial time in Buffalo, leading the Blue and Gold to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1999 and coaching the Sabres during more than one playoff run.

Other teams have followed a similar path, bringing back former coaches to see if they could help improve their luck. How did they do? Let’s examine some of these other NHL rehires to see how they fared in their second go arounds.

Paul Maurice

NHL head coach Paul Maurice recently tasted the ultimate success, winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers this past June. Florida was the fifth franchise he mentored, being a previous HC for the Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets. Maurice coached the Hurricanes twice, initially from 1997-2004 and again from 2008-2012.

The coach followed the Whalers to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1997, when the team relocated from Connecticut and became the Carolina Hurricanes. Maurice led the Canes to the postseason three times, but when Carolina started to slump and failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year, he was out and eventually ended up behind Toronto’s bench for two seasons from 2006-2008.

However, the Hurricanes decided to give Maurice another chance and he was back in Raleigh for the start of the 2008-09 season. The rehired coach brought the team back to the playoffs and the Canes finished second in their division. They went on to beat the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils before falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Conference Finals. Maurice couldn’t bring the Canes back to the postseason in 2010 or 2011 and Carolina fired him early in the 2011-12 season.

Ken Hitchcock

Lindy Ruff’s onetime nemesis Ken Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars from 1995-2002, helping them win a disputed Stanley Cup victory over the Sabres in the 1999, thanks to an after-the-fact rule change that let Dallas forward Brett Hull’s illegal goal stand. Hitchcock coached the Stars to a second Cup run the following year, but the New Jersey Devils skated off the ice with the Cup that time.

Dallas clinched a playoff spot under Hitchcock’s leadership in 2000-01 and the Stars made it to the Conference Semifinals. The following year, after a dismal 23-17-6 start, the Dallas Stars fired Hitchcock. He then went on to coach the Philadelphia Flyers from 2002-07, the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2007-10 and the St. Louis Blues from 2011-17 before coming back to Dallas for the 2017-18 season.

The Stars enjoyed 42 wins and 32 losses in Hitchcock’s short-lived reunion with the franchise. Once the hockey year ended, though, the head coach decided to retire from hockey, coming out of retirement the next year to join the Edmonton Oilers. Hitchcock should have stayed out of the NHL, because the Oilers fired him in May 2019 after Edmonton failed to make the postseason.

John Tortorella

John Tortorella started his NHL coaching career with the New York Rangers during the 1999-2000 season. Interestingly enough, he was also an assistant coach with the Sabres from 1989-1995. He only coached the Blueshirts for four games his first year and joined the Tampa Bay Lightning the following season, where he’d spend the next seven years. Tortorella didn’t take the Lightning to the postseason until 2003, when the Bolts made it to the NHL playoffs’ second round.

The following year, Tortorella coached the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup win in team history, beating the Calgary Flames in seven games. After no hockey thanks to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Tortorella got Tampa Bay back to the playoffs for two consecutive seasons in 2006 and 2007, but unfortunately the Bolts lost in the first round both times. Tampa did even worse in 2008, not even reaching the playoffs and Tortorella was let go in the offseason.

The New York Rangers hired Tortorella back in 2008 and he coached the Blueshirts for another five seasons until 2013. His record during his return to Madison Square Garden was mostly decent. New York clinched a playoff spot under his leadership in four out of those five seasons, making it to the third round once, the second round once and the first round twice. The Rangers fired Tortorella after New York lost to the Boston Bruins in the 2013 playoffs’ second round.

Darryl Sutter

Head coach Daryl Sutter assumed the reins with the Calgary Flames in 2002-2003, after previously coaching the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. Sutter became Calgary’s combined head coach and general manager. The Flames won the Western Conference his second season in Calgary and made it to the postseason in 2005-06 but didn’t advance past the first round.

Sutter resigned from his head coaching role with the Flames to concentrate solely on his GM duties. He stayed on as the Flames GM until 2010, when team president Ken King asked him to step down. The Los Angeles Kings hired Sutter one year later and he stayed with the Kings until the end of the 2016-17 season. Sutter excelled in L.A., helping win two Stanley Cups, the first one during his initial year behind the bench. He also led Los Angeles to the postseason two other times, although neither of these playoff runs ended with a Cup win.

The Calgary Flames liked what they saw and Sutter was back in Calgary at the start of 2020-21. Sutter didn’t make much a splash during that Covid-19 shortened season, however he did outstanding the following year. That season was one of Calgary’s best and the Flames finished with a 50-21-11 record, first in the Pacific Division. Unfortunately, Calgary lost in the playoffs’ second round and narrowly missed the postseason in 2023, leading to Sutter’s firing.

Claude Julien

Claude Julien started his NHL coaching career with the Montreal Canadiens in 2002-03, finishing the season with a 12-16-3 record in 36 games. The following year, his first full season with the club, Julien got the Habs to a 40-30-7 finish and 93 points. The Canadiens made it to the playoffs’ second round but went no further that year. Despite Montreal finishing third in the division in 2006, the Habs fired Julien. He quickly bounced back, landing a head coaching job with the New Jersey Devils.

Julien didn’t finish the season in New Jersey, as GM Lou Lamoriello suddenly canned Julien shortly before the end of 2006-07. Lamoriello felt Julien hadn’t made the team ready for a playoff run. Just a few months later, the Boston Bruins hired the former Devils head coach and Julien spent the next 10 seasons in Boston, the longest stint of his HC tenure. He coached the team to a Stanley Cup win in 2011 and an Eastern Conference Championship two years later.

Eventually, the Bruins deteriorated and the GM and owners placed the blame on Julien. They didn’t wait until the end of 2017, dismissing him in February. The Habs quickly brought him back, signing him up just a week after he lost his job in Boston. In his five seasons in Montreal, Julien suffered ups and downs. He coached the Canadiens to just two playoff appearances and was out after only 18 games in 2021.

Jacques Lemaire

Jacques Lemaire started his first HC job with the same franchise as Julien, the Montreal Canadiens, in 1983. After two years with Le Grand Club, Lemaire went to New Jersey, where he took the Devils to the finals and a Cup victory his second season. After finishing the 1997-98 season in first place, the second time in two years, New Jersey lost to the Ottawa Senators in the Conference Quarterfinals. Lemaire was gone and wouldn’t coach in the NHL again until 2000.

Lemaire coached the Minnesota Wild from 2000 until 2009, making the postseason three times but never getting past the Conference Finals. He went back to the Devils in 2009 and stayed in New Jersey for two more seasons. Lemaire brought the division-leading team to the playoffs his first season back, but lost to the Flyers in the Quarterfinals. The next year, 2010-11, the Devils failed to reach the postseason and it was the end of Lemaire’s second try in the Garden State.